A Simple Reason You Need A Passcode On Your iPhone

Thanks to a tip from Miguel Alvarado (who made the video
above), 9to5Mac is reporting a bug
that could let a thief bypass the protections meant to keep
iPhones safe. In iOS 7, iPhones have a built-in security
system to keep thieves from using the device themselves or
selling it to others.

It’s a catch-22, basically: You can't restore the phone from a
backup or disable the iCloud account it’s connected to without
turning off the "Find My iPhone" service. But Find My iPhone
can't be turned off without the password to your iCloud account.

But Alvarado's video shows a bug in iOS 7 that allows a user to
bypass all of this security. In the iCloud settings window, you
tap the "delete account" button while simultaneously moving the
switch to disable Find My iPhone. Then, when iOS 7 asks for a
password, you turn off the phone by holding the power button.
When you turn the phone back on, you can go back to the iCloud
settings and remove the account without being prompted for a
password. Then you're free to restore the phone from another
backup, and Find My iPhone won't be a problem.

This sounds like a pretty devastating bug, but there are two
crucial things keeping it from ruining iOS 7 security. First,
it's difficult to replicate and doesn't always work, so you can
hope that whoever steals your phone isn't able to accomplish
it.

But second, and more important, the bug is totally irrelevant
if you have a passcode on your phone. A secure passcode that's
hard to guess and isn't written on a sticker on the back of
your handset will offer solid protection from this and other
security flaws. A kill switch in every phone wouldn’t
hurt either.